Amid skepticism from Supervisors Brooks Firestone and Joni Gray, the Board of Supervisors on Tuesday evening made the determination that the Santa Barbara Ranch property in Naples could be preserved from development � but only partially.
The 4-0 vote, with Gray abstaining, capped a long day for both the supervisors and the public interested in the fate of the Gaviota property. At the hearing, the board also directed county staff to finalize an ordinance that would enable a Transfer of Development Rights � in this case, a process by which development rights on the Naples property would be exchanged for equivalent rights in neighboring jurisdictions. Santa Barbara has expressed support for the Transfer of Development Rights, or TDR; Goleta had refused to participate until recently. Matt Osgood, owner of the majority of the properties in the Santa Barbara Ranch, is said to be amenable to the concept of a TDR, if it were voluntary.
Just two miles north of Goleta, the Santa Barbara Ranch is a prime piece of property, located on the last undeveloped stretch of Southern California coastline. Plans to develop the land go back to the late 1800s, when a speculator named John Williams tried � and failed � to build an Italian-style tourist destination. Those plans are what gave the place its name, and its first development map, covering nearly 500 acres.
These days, the development plans for Naples include luxury homes of an average 6,000 square feet and valued at up to $7.1 million. The homes would be scattered over the 485 acres of the official Naples townsite, and possibly a portion of neighboring Dos Pueblos Ranch.
In 2006, amid the Santa Barbara Ranch�s push to get plans approved for development, the county hired Solimar Research Group to assess the potential for a Transfer of Development Rights, in accordance with its Coastal Land Use Policy 2-13. The policy requires such a study before rezoning the area from its current low-density agricultural designation to a designation compatible with the 273 lots that were legally recognized by the county in 1995. Currently, Naples� agricultural designation lends itself to only 14 parcels.
Ultimately, Solimar concluded that only a partial TDR could be accomplished. The result was that just $73.2 million of the up to $200 million in development rights could be absorbed by surrounding communities, leaving up to $125.8 million remaining at Naples.Also, per the supervisors’ discussion Tuesday evening, the remainder of the parcels whose rights couldn�t be transferred would need to have their ag designation re-evaluated.Part of the difficulty in accomplishing a full TDR lies in the discrepancy of development values in the prime coastal areas and the lower-value inland urban areas. Another issue is the seeming unwillingness of local jurisdictions to increase densities and make receiver sites available for the transfer.
�I do not believe that in the South County there is a receiver site,� Gray said.It seems to me that it would be a great idea to build another really nice hotel in Santa Barbara,” the 4th District supervisor continued, “but Santa Barbara doesn�t lend itself to high-rise.Firestone was doubtful that any TDR could be accomplished at all. Naples is in Firestone’s 3rd District.
�Show me a receiver site. Show me some evidence that this can be done,he said.Still, for members of local environmental groups and some community members, as well as for South Coast Supervisors Salud Carbajal and Janet Wolf, a shot at some TDR was better than no TDR at all.We don’t have the program yet,� said Marc Chytilo, representing the preservationist Naples Coalition, explaining his view on why no receiver sites have come forward to participate in the program.We don’t have the leadership out to show that this is a program that�s going to deliver true open space protection, satisfy the needs of the landowner and ensure that we have a Gaviota coast that will live in perpetuity as an open space area,� Chytilo said.
Through the use of a TDR �bank,� according to planning and development staff, development rights could be purchased from Santa Barbara Ranch. The bank would then sell density credits to developers in the receiving sites. As an example, $20 million in the TDR bank could purchase a mximum of 29 units on the inland portion of the Santa Barbara Ranch, or 16 highly visible lots, or two blufftop homes. The TDR program enabled by the ordinance would have to sort out which lots to prioritize, and who would administer the program and run the bank. The program would be voluntary, and run in a free-market fashion.
The Santa Barbara Ranch project will be back before the county Planning Commission in July and again before the Board of Supervisors in the fall.{pollxtbot_id=5}